


Baubles and Beeswax

by emma_enchanted



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Gen, I’m not sure where this is going anymore but I still have ideas so I’m gonna roll with it, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:48:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22038055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emma_enchanted/pseuds/emma_enchanted
Summary: Fourteen-year-Old Ann Harper runs to Gatlon City with nothing but her dearest possessions and whole lot of bees, expecting to spend her life in hiding.  But when she runs into Alec in the street, her plans take a turn.Ann Harper turned Honey Harper turned Queen Bee navigates a young mastermind— and becomes his partner in crime.
Relationships: Honey Harper & Alec Artino
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn’t planning on posting this until I got a little further in, but this was an absolute joy to write and I’m very excited about it. Supernova spoilers, obviously, but that’s a given at this point.

Outcast.

Witch.

 _Freak_.

That’s what she was. A freak and a disgrace.

Ann Harper swiped angrily at her eyes. It wasn’t fair. She didn’t ask for this gift. She never wanted it. Who wanted a thousand bee stings, no matter what power it would give? But it didn’t seem that way to Gerald and Poppy Harper.

She hadn’t meant to send the wasps after Grandma Bessie. She’d gotten so angry, so upset by those words coming out of the mouth of her dear old nan that she lost what little control she had accumulated over the last few years.

The sounds still echoed in her mind. Outcast. Witch. Freak. And a whole lot of buzzing. When the first stinger penetrated Grandma’s flesh, everything had exploded into dissonant cacophony. Her parents’ screams told her that it was time to disappear.

A fourteen-year-old farm girl on the streets of Gatlon City wasn’t unheard of, but the loyal following of bees was. She tried to make them spread out, go unnoticed, but she was still getting some funny looks. She grit her teeth and kept moving. If she could just find an alley or something, somewhere secluded...

A boy ran smack into her as she rounded a corner, knocking her to the ground and throwing her concentration away. “Ow!” she yelped. “What the hell?”

“I’m so sorry!” The boy exclaimed, reaching a hand out towards her.

In a past life she would have accepted his help and his apology, then graciously gone on her way. But this was a new her, someone who didn’t trust boys she met on the street. She snarled and pushed herself away from him.

The bees began to swarm again, coming to her aid. She hadn’t called them, but she suspected this would be happening a lot more if she stuck with this angry persona.

“Whoa,” the boy breathed, letting his hand drop to his side as he watched the swarm converge next to her, waiting for instructions. She stood, still scowling.

“Are you...” the boy began hesitantly.

Ann knee exactly what his question was, and she did not want to hear it. “Yeah, I’m a freak. Now get out of here and keep your mouth shut, twerp.” She stomped away, infuriated that she’d thought she could pass for normal.

“You forgot your bag.”

The sound of his voice again made her cringe. She wanted to punch him, sic the hornets on him, anything to make him leave her alone.

But she wasn’t holding her bag and that must mean that he was telling the truth, and she really did need the things in there. She turned around and— oh.

It was levitating, just between herself and him. He had one hand stretched out towards it, and there was a slight clenching of his jaw out of focus, but otherwise his attention stayed on her, as though this was how everyone handed things off.

She looked like a gaping idiot, and she knew it. But New Ann didn’t look like that. New Ann always had the higher ground. She solemnly stepped forward and plucked her bag from his mental grasp.

“Are you looking for someplace to go?”

This boy confounded her. All people were taught to fear special abilities. They were dangerous. Little children grew up repressing their powers, trying to pass as average even when they were anything but. So why was this boy so unafraid of her skill? Or of his own?

“No,” she responded curtly. “I’m not.”

“Oh,” he said, only looking slightly crestfallen. “I was going to offer to bring you to my apartment— we’ve got an extra room and everything— but if you don’t need it that’s fine too.”

The last thing she wanted was to be indebted to this boy. But her resolve was wavering— an extra room sounded heavenly to a girl who’d been roaming the unfamiliar city streets.

Still. She wasn’t going to trust someone without fear. “No,” she shot back resolutely.

“Okay,” the boy replied, seemingly unaffected. “My name is Alec, if you need me. What’s yours?”

Ann. Her name was Ann. An unbelievably common name given by parents who had rejected their unbelievably uncommon daughter.

“My _name_ ,” she said coldly, “is none of your business.”

She walked away before seeing his expression, head held high. But a pinprick of curiosity still lingered, and to ease her mind she sent a single bee to follow him.

———

Several painful blocks later, she was starting to wish she had taken the offer.

City walking is not like rural walking. Ann had walked miles on her family’s farm, but that air was fresh and clean and soft. The city air stank, and the hard concrete pained her heels.

Many times, she thought longingly of the bee she’d sent after the boy. Alec. Hopefully he went back to his home and his coveted extra room.

But as it turned out, she didn’t need that bee to tell her where he’d gone.

There he was, running down the opposite side of the street, but not afraid. Just running as a matter of procedure, just the way he got around.

But taking a closer look, she saw something that could have been cause to run. Because while nothing was actively following him, he was attracting a lot of stares, even from those nowhere near him.

 _They knew_. They knew he wasn’t normal. And while they wouldn’t turn him in, they did not like his presence.

Her eyes followed him all the way down to a run-down apartment building on the corner. He wasted no time in throwing the door open and running inside.

She followed from a distance. Luckily, the apartment complex had no elevator, only stairs that wound around in a tight loop. It wasn’t hard to follow him without being noticed, and she only had to duck behind corners a couple of times.

The long hallway upstairs was harder. But she kept a bigger distance between them and managed to go unnoticed.

Or so she thought.

“Hello,” he said, completely still. “I see you’ve taken an interest in me.”

Ann stayed silent. Maybe he wasn’t talking to her. Maybe he was psychotic or something, and hadn’t really seen her.

He turned, looking straight at her. “You’re not invisible, you know.”

Dammit. He had seen her. Not that she’d known how to get that spare room without that happening. Still, it was humiliating to be spotted by the boy she’d rejected less than two hours ago.

“Why did you follow me?” She hesitated. He was probably suspicious of her— as everyone with special abilities was. You couldn’t trust the people around you to leave you be, not even if they had powers of their own. Especially if they had powers of their own; they could easily turn you in in exchange for protection.

“Well?” She glowered at him. Why couldn’t anything be easy? “Fine,” she said, recalling her cold and angry personality. At least her tone would maintain a bit of dignity. “The streets have not been as kind as I’d hoped.”

He was smirking now. “And you want to take up the extra room offer?”

“Quite possibly.” A silence fell between them. Ann felt like she was watching her life teeter on the edge of a cliff, completely subject to the whims of this strange boy.

“All right. Come on in.” “R-really?” She stammered, all monarchic delusions falling. “You’re just going to... let me live in your home?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

“But what about your parents? Won’t they say no?”

“No. They’re not here. And anyway, I wouldn’t really care what they thought anyway.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So since writing the first chapter, I've fallen face-first into "Honey is a lesbian" headcanon so this is going to be going in a completely different direction than I was originally planning (hopefully it's a better one). Of course it took many months for me to update, that's just my brand I guess.

The apartment should have been roomy, but it appeared the opposite. There was crap everywhere; random trinkets, the occasional normal household object, and scraps of a material she couldn’t identify. 

“Wait here for a sec,” Alec said. “I’ll be right back.” He turned a corner and ran down the hall. 

_Didn’t that boy ever slow down?_

Sighing, she let her bag fall to the floor with a clunk. Even though she’d followed him here of her own volition, she was still fuming. 

_Of course she managed to bump into the one kid in town who wouldn’t shut his mouth and back away from her._

She was grateful that he was going to let her stay. Theoretically. But she was still embarrassed, and she doubted that would fade anytime soon. 

Her train of furious thought came to a grinding halt when she heard voices in another part of the apartment. She knew it was rude to eavesdrop, but survival mode had kicked in, and she made herself as silent as possible so as to overhear. 

“Alec, you can’t just bring home random people off the streets and promise them shelter. We can’t support another person!”

“She’s not random, she’s a prodigy. And she’s not gonna turn us in. She’s not dangerous!”

“Control over a squadron of bees sounds pretty dangerous. 

“Just give her a chance. Please.”

Alec’s please echoed in her eardrum. He was fighting so hard for her. Why?

“Fine,” came the other voice quietly. “But you’ve got to be on your toes, alright?”

She backed away from the hall, not wanting their first impression of her to be eavesdropping. 

Alec came back through, this time with a boy who she assumed was his older brother. He inhaled deeply, clearly a much more anxious character than Alec. 

“Uh. Hi. I’m David. And you’ve met Alec.”

“David says you can stay!” Alec burst out. “For a little while at least. If you need to.” He looked up at David, who’s forehead was in his hands. “What?”

“Nothing,” David said, which really meant something, but it’s too late now. “We have a spare room down the hall. Come on. Just— promise you won’t send the bees after us in our sleep, okay?”

The little comment made her cringe, but she understood the point. She began to follow David down the hall, with Alec right on her heels. 

“Hey, what’s your name? I know you didn’t want to tell me earlier, and that makes sense, but now that you’re rooming here we should probably know.”

She grit her teeth. He was right— it would be stupid of them to let her stay here without knowing at least that. 

“Ann,” she said. “Ann Harper.”

“Oh.” Though she couldn’t see him, Alec sounded thoroughly disappointed. That’s not what I expected at all.”

She made no reply. She wasn’t fond of it herself, and was planning on changing it if she could. 

“Well, here it is.” David stepped aside so she could see. “It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.”

She eyed him sideways, and he was staring straight back at her. There was an understanding that passed between them in that moment. 

_I don’t trust you, but this is something to be grateful for._

Stepping into the room, she saw how small it was— nothing but a rickety cot and some dust mites taking up half of the space. But it was better than nothing, and the lack of furnishings was a blessing in disguise; she needed a place for the hive, after all. 

She turned back to face the boys. Inhaled. “Thank you,” she said smoothly, keeping her expression as neutral as possible. She didn’t want them to think they were going to become friends because of this. 

An awkward silence fell, no end to the conversation but also nothing left to say. 

“Okay.” David pursed his lips in resignation. “We’ll let you settle in.”

He disappeared from her view, but Alec stayed. “Want any help?” 

His voice was really starting to annoy her. “No thank you. I’m fine.”

“Okay. I’m here, though, if you need me. And don’t be fooled by David, he’s friendly.” 

He left, and she heard the quick padding of footsteps as he sprinted back down the hallway. 

She turned to face the tiny room. Somehow, it made her want to cry a little. It felt like such a drastic turn in her life, that she could go from her cozy attic room at home, where she had her family and her comforts, to something approximating a boarding-house run by two boys she couldn’t like. 

But she didn’t cry. She couldn’t let that happen, not when she was looking out for herself.


	3. Chapter 3

When she woke up in the morning, she had a stiff neck and a pile of bees on her chest.

She didn’t shoo them away, only lifted her head to look and then gave up, settling herself back in. What was there to do, anyway?

She heard a knock on the door. “Ann?”

David. She didn’t want to see him, or Alec, this early in the morning.

“I just wanted you to know there’s a little food in the fridge. Don’t worry about running out, I’m going to the store today.”

She didn’t answer. There was only a moment of silence before his footsteps faded away. Relieved, she sat up, the bees fluttering away from her and back towards their hive.

She couldn’t remember ever having been so tired before in her life, despite having grown up on a farm where the rooster crowed with even the slightest hint of light.

Did she really have to get up? There wasn’t anything for her to do— no jobs, no parents… she wouldn’t need to go anywhere at all if not for the intrinsic need to eat.

She sat up. Maybe she could get away with it. She did, after all, have a hive full of bees toiling away day and night. Bees made honey.

And honey was edible.

———

“Ann?”

She started awake, rustling her blankets and creating a noise that would surely be heard, but said nothing. She still wasn’t feeling up for conversation.

But it seemed she no longer had that choice; the door was creaking open.

She sprang up from the bed and straightened her hair and clothes. There was little she could really do, what with the dramatic bedhead and pink pajamas she was sporting, but she didn’t want to look like a total mess.

David stayed in the door frame, giving her a look that indicated he wasn’t fooled.

But it quickly shifted to concern. “Are you okay? We haven’t seen you since you got here.”

She didn’t attempt to reply, only staring him down and hoping he would go away. He didn’t.

“Have you left the room at all in the past few days? Maybe you should. Fresh air can be helpful.”

She huffed. Who was he to tell her what was good?

“Um…” David had frozen completely, eyes wide. “Ann?”

She focused in on him. Several bees had congregated menacingly around him, poised to strike.

Her anger wilted. With a wave of her hand she ushered the bees back to their hive, then collapsed on the bed behind her.

Neither of them moved. He seemed less than inclined to do anything that could stir up the possibility of upsetting her. As for her, she knew she should say something, apologize maybe, but she didn’t believe in apologizing for something that wasn’t her fault.

Slowly, tentatively, she felt David ease himself onto the bed beside her. She didn’t turn to look at him.

“You don’t have to talk to me… I mean, we barely know each other, and you’re really only here because Alec trusts you… but can I just ask how you’ve been managing to stay in here? Without needing, I don’t know, food?”

She didn’t answer at first. It wasn’t detrimental to anyone’s safety except her own, and she didn’t think she owed him anything.

But she felt a sense of desperation in him. A weariness, a hope that maybe she had something to offer.

Sighing deeply, she began: “The bees trust me. They let me take as much honey as I need.” She turned to look at David as much as she could handle. “It might not be the healthiest living ever, but it’s filling and I don’t need to go outside.”

David didn’t say anything, but she could feel him nodding from the way the bed bounced ever so slightly.

“I’m fine,” she added. “I don’t need any help. Or want any. I’d rather function on my own.”

“Mmm hmm.” David was still nodding. “Well, I guess you can do whatever you want, as long as Alec and I don’t lose our living. And you can have some water, at least, I still don’t understand how you survive without that. And…”

She was glad he was going to let her be, but she was getting a little fed up with his constant interruptions in his own speech. “What?”

He pursed his lips. “It might be a little risky, but… there might be a job opportunity for you.”

———

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

She’d spent the past few days gathering honey from the bees. They’d worked twice as hard as she had ever seen them work, and it paid off. Now she had a boxful of jars— scrounged from nearby dumpsters by Alec and thoroughly cleaned by David— filled with the sticky yellow substance.

She nodded. “Yes. I have to make some kind of living. This is what I have.”

“And are the bees… prepared to be home alone?”

“They’ll be fine. My babies can fend for themselves, and they won’t go anywhere unless I tell them to.”

Alec raised an eyebrow and didn’t bother to hide his smirk. “Babies?”

She shot him a cold look. “Yes. They’re my _family._ The only one I’ve got.”

Alec shrugged, unfazed by her dark intensity. “Not a judgement, just an observation.”

She hoisted the box up in her arms. “I’m ready, then. Time to sell some honey.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea when I’ll get to update this, but let me know if you like it! Comments and Kudos appreciated!


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